Lakeside Cottage
by SkyGem
Summary: They meet every summer at the lake. They start off as close friends, but will it stay that way? Or will their feelings grow into something more? Read on to find out! Full summary inside. Oneshot. RyomaxKaido.  Now celebrating my 50th fic.


Summary: Ryoma, raised in America, has spent every summer of his life at the lakeside summer cottage that his family owns in Japan, and for as long as he remembers, he's been spending those summers with the boy whose family owns the neighbouring cottage a quarter of a mile away; Kaido Kaoru. At first, their relationship is that of close childhood friends, but as Ryoma grows older, his feelings for the older male begin to change, and before he knows what hit him, he's head over heels in love. But there's no way their love could work out; they both live on opposite sides of the world, not to mention the fact that Kaido is straight . . . or so Ryoma thinks.

SkyGem: A few weeks ago, I got this really adorable new romance novel called Lakeside Cottage by Susan Wings, and it gave me the idea for this fic, even though the plot is almost completely different. Anyways, I hope you guys like this cute little one-shot, ne?

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis, or the novel Lakeside cottage, but I do own the plot for this fic.

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><p><em><span>Age 4<span>_

The young greenette looked up at the scary-looking onii-san who would be his neighbour for the summer. Being as young and innocent as he was, he immediately trusted the older kid despite his appearance and smiled.

Performing a clumsy bow, the greenette introduced himself. "Konnichiwa! Watashi wa Echizen Ryoma! Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!"

The older boy, who had been glaring previously, looked surprised at the friendly greeting and a slight pink tinge coloured his cheeks. Then, smiling a little shyly, he said, "Watashi wa Kaido Kaoru. Yoroshiku."

Ryoma giggled a little. Even though this onii-chan looked scary, he was actually really nice.

Grabbing the older boy's hand, he dragged him towards where their parents were talking and laughing together.

"Otou-san!" said Ryoma, tugging a little on the legs of his father's monk robes.

Looking down at his son, Nanjiro's eyes lit up and he went into doting father mode. "Yes my cute little son?"

"Can Kaoru-nii and I go swimming in the lake?"

"Of course you can," said Nanjiro with an indulgent smile on his face. "But Kaoru-kun has to ask permission from his parents too, doesn't he?"

Kaido Hozumi and Shibuki looked at their son expectantly. They were used to him being alone, and were excited at the prospect of Kaoru making friends.

Fidgeting a little and looking down at his feet, the boy asked in a quiet voice, "C-can I go swimming with Ryoma-kun?"

Hozumi beamed as she looked at her son and said immediately, "Of course you can! Your father and I will watch over you from here in case something happens, but stay close to the shore, just in case, okay?"

"Yatta!" shouted Ryoma, pulling Kaoru by the hand.

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><p><em><span>Age 6<span>_

Kaoru looked down at the kitten that was batting playfully at his bare toes. "When did you get a cat?" he asked his companion, resisting the urge to bend down and cuddle the poor beast to death.

The greenette beside him smiled a knowing smile. "We got him a week ago. His name is Karupin, and he's a month old. You can pick him up if you want."

The older kid blushed a little. How could Ryoma see through him so easily?

Bending down, he gathered the pretty Himalayan into his arms and started stroking his back.

Karupin, who was still very young and got nervous around strangers, surprisingly took a liking to the boy, purring happily.

Kaido smiled widely, and Ryoma let out a giggle. When he first met Kaoru, the boy had barely ever expressed any emotion. By the end of their first summer together, he was still pretty reserved, but he had opened up a little. Now, on their third summer together, Ryoma was happy to see that his Kaoru-nii was relaxed enough around him to show such a happy smile. He could tell that the boy wasn't too good at expressing himself.

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><p><em><span>Age 8<span>_

"Kaoru-nii!" shouted Ryoma, throwing himself at his friend as soon as said friend stepped out of his family's car.

Aforementioned Kaoru-nii smiled gently at the boy and ruffled his hair, saying, "Hey Ryoma. You've grown since last year."

Pouting a little, the greenette said, "Even if I've grown, you're still taller than me."

Kaoru chuckled and ruffled the younger boy's hair again. "Well, I **am** older than you."

Before Ryoma could reply, Shibuki, Kaoru's father, interrupted them.

"Ryoma-kun! You're here early! It's good to see you again!"

Bowing respectfully, Ryoma said, "It's nice to see you again too, Kaido-oji-san." Then, smiling widely, he turned back to his friend and said, "And the reason I'm here so early is because I was waiting so that I could give Kaoru-nii a present!"

"A present?" asked Kaoru, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

Nodding, the greenette ran back to where he had been sitting earlier, picked something up off the grass, and ran back. "Here you go," he said, holding out the package.

Kaoru took it, and saw that it was a green bandanna.

Fidgeting a little, Ryoma smiled shyly, saying, "I was shopping with okaa-san, and I saw that and it reminded me of you, so I used my allowance money to buy it for you. I hope you like it."

The older boy blushed a little. The fact that Ryoma thought about him even when they weren't together at the cottage made him feel a little giddy. Then, his eyes widened as he remembered something. "Wait here," said Kaoru, then ran back to the car and pulled something off the seat.

When Kaoru came running back to Ryoma, he held the prize in front of the boy's face. It was a white fila cap with the letter 'R' on it.

Ryoma pointed to himself in surprise and Kaoru frantically nodded.

A wide smile graced the greenette's features as he accepted the gift, and at the same time he placed the cap on his head, Kaoru tied the bandana over his messy black locks.

Both smiled widely at each other, and even though the accessories were a bit too big for them, they didn't mind, because they knew they would grow into them with time.

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><p><em><span>Age 10<span>_

"Ah! Hey, Kaoru-nii! You're not allowed to jump from that high!" shouted Ryoma frantically to his friend.

They were at the most popular swimming hole on the whole lake, and Kaoru was getting ready to jump off one of the higher cliffs and into the deep waters of the lake.

"It's fine!" said the older boy nonchalantly, his favourite green bandanna tied around his wrist for once (he was afraid he would lose it in the water if he kept it on his head).

Launching off the cliff, he arced gracefully into the air and dove head-first into the water.

Ryoma could only watch with stunned wonder as he waited for his friend to come to the surface.

A slow minute passed, and Ryoma started to get worried. Why wasn't he coming up?

Diving under water, he looked frantically for Kaoru, then saw him floating not too far away, his eyes closed.

Swimming quickly over to the unconscious boy, Ryoma was about to pull him up when suddenly his eyes flashed open and he grinned wickedly before darting towards his friend.

Ryoma was so surprised that he forgot they were under water and opened his mouth to gasp.

Immediately, water rushed into his mouth, almost choking him.

Kaoru immediately pulled the boy closer to him and began kicking his powerful legs, buoying them both up to the surface.

Ryoma began spluttering as soon as they broke the surface and pulled in deep gulps of air. When he was no longer oxygen deprived, he threw a glare at his friend, whose arms were still around him, holding him close.

Hitting his chest with a closed fist, Ryoma said, "I was seriously worried, you know!"

Kaoru laughed and touched his forehead to Ryoma's. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it."

Ryoma would normally have made a smart ass retort, but he was too busy blushing at the closeness of the older boy and staring into his endless brown eyes.

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><p><em><span>Age 12<span>_

The adults were currently out, double dating at a fancy restaurant not too far from the summer houses and Ryoma and Kaoru were together at the Echizens' place, watching a movie.

Kaoru was sitting on the floor with his back against the sofa, where Ryoma was lying down, his face only inches from his friend's. Both were staring intently at the television screen, not seeming to acknowledge the other's presence.

By the time the movie finished, Ryoma was fast asleep, and when Kaoru took in his sleeping face, he couldn't help but blush.

Sure, he and Ryoma had had sleepovers aplenty over the duration of the nine summers they'd spent together, and he'd seen the boy asleep before, but this was different.

Kaoru didn't remember ever thinking of the boy as _adorable _before.

Suddenly, Ryoma's eyes opened, and he propped himself up on his elbow, looking at the television with eyes still fuzzy with sleep. "The movie's over already?" he asked with a yawn.

Suddenly, Kaoru couldn't take it anymore. He pulled the greenette into a kiss.

Ryoma was so surprised that for a second, he couldn't react. After he got over his shock, though, he found himself kissing back.

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><p><em><span>Age 12 – September<span>_

"Watashi was Echizen Ryoma. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu," said Ryoma, bowing slightly to his new classmates. After living almost his entire life in America, his parents had decided to move the family to Japan. Ryoma had been extremely happy when he'd heard the news. Even though he knew it was unlikely, he'd allowed himself daydreams of somehow ending up in the same junior high as Kaoru-nii. That was silly though. Even if Japan was an island, it was still pretty big and the chances of him landing in the same school as Kaoru were slim . . . but they weren't zero, a small part of his mind felt inclined to keep reminding him.

As classes slowly trailed by, Ryoma's thoughts kept straying, and he even fell asleep at one point due to jetlag.

Before long, though, school was over, and he was wandering around, looking for the tennis courts.

A certain second-year sempai gave him directions, but he ended up at the sumo club, of all places.

Mentally cursing the sempai that had led him astray, Ryoma followed the sumo club captain's directions and soon found the tennis courts without a problem.

He hadn't even been there five seconds before he heard someone yelling, "You're in pretty good shape today, Mamushi! Did something good happen? Did a cute girl confess to you?"

Ryoma stomped over to the sempai, ready to chew him out for the prank he had played earlier.

Before he could do anything, though, he caught sight of exactly who aforementioned "Mamushi" was, and his eyes grew as wide as saucers. Somehow, against all odds, it seemed that all that Ryoma's daydreams were coming true because, right on the court in front of him was the one and only Kaido Kaoru.

"Game, set, and match to Kaido Kaoru," said a familiar voice, snapping the boy out of his thoughts. "Six games to love."

Smirking a little, the Ryoma walked over to the entrance of the courts, and as Kaoru walked out, he said, "Six games to love. Not too shabby."

The boy froze in the process of retying his bandanna and turned to look at the greenette with wide eyes. "Ryoma?" he asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

"I transferred here today," said the freshman as if it were obvious. "Anyways, Kaoru-nii, you never told me you played tennis."

Kaoru, whose expression had been shocked as hell suddenly glared fiercely at the boy. "Don't call me that," he said.

"Nani?" asked Ryoma, misunderstanding the meaning of what Kaoru had said. He felt hurt; wasn't the older boy happy to see him?

Walking forward, Kaoru growled into his ear, "I hate it when you call me that. I don't want our relationship to be that of siblings. I want more. **Much **more."

Ryoma, surprised at the suddenness of the confession, stumbled back a little, his face burning.

When he took a good look at Kaoru, he saw that the older boy was blushing too.

"You don't want me to use –nii anymore?" clarified Ryoma.

"No," stated the second year shortly.

A smile blooming on his face, Ryoma said, "As you wish, Kaoru."

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><p>SkyGem: Sorry, the ending was a bit rushed . . . but please do leave a review and tell me what you thought, ne? *Sigh* I really do like the plot of this story. I would have made this a multi-chapter, but I'm not in a position where I can do that right now . . . what do you guys think, though? Do you think I should post a multi-chapter fic of this? It would be roughly nine of ten chapters. One for each summer they're together, and then the last for when they meet at Seigaku. It would have a great deal more detail, and some of the events might be a little different, but it'll follow pretty much the same outline as this. What do you all think? Once again, please do leave a review and tell me what you thought, ne?<p>

P.S. OML, I just realized this is my fiftieth fanfic! *Squeal* I can't believe I actually made it this far. I would never have made it without all my awesome readers! Thank you all so much for reading not only one of my fics, but often four, or even more of them! You're all so awesome! Thanks so much, and I hope for your continued support!


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